GOP lawmakers are pushing bills that would allow parents to claim fetuses as dependents on their income taxes and get tax exemptions for children in utero. Fetal personhood — the idea that fetuses, embryos and even zygotes should have legal rights — has come up in legislation introduced around the U.S. since Roe v. Wade fell nearly three years ago.

Republican Ohio Sen. Gary Click sponsored a bill in 2022 that legally established “personhood” from the moment of conception, Ohio Capital Journal reported. Detractors argued that the measure would jeopardize access to abortion and in vitro fertilization.

Click said critiques of that bill, which stalled, led him to reintroduce legislation this year that would let Ohioans claim “conceived children” as dependents on their taxes, Capital Journal reported.

“They don’t become a dependent after they’re born. They become a dependent as soon as you know the child,” Click said. People who had miscarriages and conceived through assisted reproductive technology would be allowed to claim tax credits, too.

Items like cribs and pack-and-plays would be tax-exempt if the bill becomes law. “These seem like little things, but when you’re just a little couple starting off, every cent matters,” Click said.

Georgia already has a similar law on the books. The state’s six-week abortion ban included fetal personhood language that said people can claim embryos or fetuses as dependents on their income taxes, according to Georgia Recorder. Residents can claim up to $3,000 annually in deductions, but a single person has to make $12,000 to qualify and a married couple would need to make at least $24,000 to get the deduction. The threshold increases the more children a couple has, per the Recorder.

Congressional Republicans have also tried to fuse fetal personhood into child tax credit policies. Montana Sen. Steve Daines and Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks introduced legislation in June 2023 that would allow pregnant mothers to claim the Child Tax Credit for embryos and fetuses. Major anti-abortion groups, such as Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Students for Life, endorsed the proposal. The measures did not advance beyond committee referrals.

Now that the GOP controls both chambers of Congress, such federal legislation may have a better chance. Republican Utah Rep. Blake Moore introduced the Family First Act last month, which would enact a Child Tax Credit that applies to embryos and fetuses.